Based on an assessment of the emotional distress of the targeted journalist and the threat level, relocating or temporarily reassigning the journalist to another department can help minimize risk.

Best practices:

Reassignment

During the Gezi Park protests in Turkey in 2013, numerous journalists faced vicious online threats and harassment. Some newsrooms, such as Hürriyet, opted to temporarily transfer journalists – in consulation with them – to a different department or to desk work.

Relocation

Regional Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat relocated one of its female journalists from the city of Turku (around 250,000 people) to the much larger capital city of Helsinki after a series of online threats were followed by direct threats in the street. The management took this decision following a physical risk assessment, which took into account the fact that smaller cities or towns can be increase the chance that a journalist will be recognized and therefore potentially put in greater danger.

Actors: Management, Editor, Journalist and Online Safety Expert.